On Monday 17 February, GM announced the end of the Holden. Six hundred people will lose their jobs by June. The promises made of ongoing commitment to the brand when manufacturing ceased in Australia did not materialise, and were never likely to. Holden and the Australian story are deeply inter-woven through deliberate cultivation and personal […]
Main Content
Port & South
Shifting Sand
It rained overnight on 23/24 January. People woke up to red mud coating every surface. Strong winds had borne Mallee dust from over 500 km away to Melbourne. It was yet another reminder to metropolitan Melbourne not to live forgetfully of conditions in other parts of Victoria. The Yarra River turned a colour not its […]
Docklands
Central Pier, Docklands
The abrupt closure of Central Pier in August last year, confirmed in early January, has implications beyond the distress to affected businesses and their staff. Development Victoria, the owner of the Pier, insists that the closure is necessary for public safety. Central Pier, built in 1916, was one of the later structures to be built […]
Yarra & Bay
The Rivers
Across 11th Avenue and six lanes of traffic is the Hudson River. It is mighty. The Hudson River’s original name was Muhheakantuck and we know the Yarra River as the Birrarung, the river of mists. Muhheakantuck means that the river flows both ways whereas the Yarra is sometimes said to flow upside down. The extensive […]
Port of Melbourne
Narrative of progress
The tapestries Port Reflections and Port Impressions hang in the terminal building on Station Pier but this was not their original home. Here’s the back story. The Melbourne Harbor Trust (MHT) turned itself inside out to prepare the port for the arrival of the first container ship in 1969. Container ships needed completely different infrastructure […]
Southbank
Spring Cleaning The City
No rest for the committed. The day after the Global Climate Strike, it was the second Spring Clean the City. The gathering place was Queensbridge Square on the Southbank Promenade. Not so much a successful public square as an intersection of spaces that are moved through rather than lingered in. Even though the Red Stair […]
Urban planning
Folly and Modesty
21 Alfred St, Port Melbourne I believe that Grand Design aired the episode that featured this house recently. This is the post I wrote about it five years ago, on 21 August 2014. H House in Port Melbourne was featured in The Age on Saturday 16 August. It’s tucked away in a corner of Port […]
Waste – waste warriors, activists & artists
Transformation
Port Places is devoted to stories of the transformation of places of the lower Yarra – from streets and parks to Fishermans Bend, the biggest urban renewal area in Australia. The imperative for transformation at every scale and in every facet of society and the economy has been given added urgency by the climate emergency. […]
People making change
The reporting season
In a cycle more predictable than the erratic seasons, community organisations account to their members at the annual general meeting. Since the annual meeting must be held within five months of the end of the financial year, usually 30 June, the latter half of the year is thick with AGMs. Every association is guided by […]